The Forum on Stakeholder Confidence Report on Dialogue in the Long-Term Management of Radioactive Waste

NEA/RWM/R(2020)1
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The Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC) was created in 2000 under a mandate from the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) to facilitate the sharing of international experience in addressing the societal dimension of radioactive waste management (RWM). The FSC fosters learning about stakeholder dialogue and ways to develop shared confidence of RWM solutions. The FSC has documented a wealth of experience through topical sessions and studies, and in particular through national workshops and community visits. National workshops and community visits have been held in Finland (NEA, 2002), Canada (NEA, 2003), Belgium (NEA, 2005a), Germany (NEA, 2005b), Spain (NEA, 2007), Hungary (NEA, 2009a), France (NEA, 2009b), Sweden (NEA, 2012), the Czech Republic (NEA, 2014) and Switzerland (NEA, 2018). Throughout the interactive workshops, FSC members and broad representation of national and local stakeholders contributed their knowledge about how societal dialogues on RWM may be built and developed, and deepened understanding of the issues and themes that must be addressed. Summaries and proceedings are available online at www.oecd-nea.org/rwm/fsc/.

In 2010, the FSC examined partnership arrangements and their history in 13 national programmes in the report Partnering for Long-Term Management of Radioactive  Waste (NEA, 2010). It showed the shift from the traditional “decide, announce and defend” model to the “engage, interact and co-operate” model. According to the report, this shift fostered the emergence of partnerships between proponents of the RWM facility and the potential host community. Working in collaboration with potential host communities enables pertinent issues and concerns to be raised and addressed. Such collaboration also created an opportunity for developing a relationship of mutual understanding and learning, as well as for developing solutions that will involve an added value to the host community or communities and region. The report documented the implementation of these elements in RWM strategies in most OECD countries. It focused on the following countries: Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.